“The Decline of Unions Is Your Problem Too”

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

“It’s a vicious cycle: as unions decline, fewer people see their fates as bound up with unions, which just accelerates the decline.” This is a tragedy when you consider two facts. First, “when unions are stronger the economy as a whole does better…and unions lift wages for non-union members too by creating a higher prevailing wage.” It’s ironic that the very corporate leaders who are so against workers organizing have spent billions organizing themselves to rig policy in order to inhibit union growth.

Unions are also instrumental in stabilizing the economy. If you look throughout America’s history, our economy (and everyone who was a part of it) did better when labor unions were at their strongest. “Once union membership started falling, the income divide grew. Since 1973 the drop in union membership accounts for a full third of the growth of wage inequality among men.” If unions disappear, who will act to defend the rights of workers?

Matt Vidal, a labor sociologist at King’s College London, said that his research clearly showed the most efficient, productive factories in the U.S. were union factories. Judging by this article, it’s clear that a unionless future only means an increase in (an already absurd) income inequality.

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The great American middle class wasn’t something that just happened – it was built brick by brick. It was built by soldiers returning from war and a government that repaid them by giving them a shot at college.

What the wealthy and well-connected figured out is that they have strength in numbers: the numbers of dollars they contribute to politicians. It’s time working and middle class Americans use our strength in numbers to reclaim the American Dream. We need a counterweight to the power of big money – and that’s the power of big numbers, the power of ordinary people who work for a living demanding to have our voices heard – from the workplace to Washington.